Vitamin Deficiencies and Their Dangers

Our bodies are excellent designed machines that we need to exercise and nurture in order to keep them working like they should. One set of components we need for this end are vitamins. If we include a variety of vitamins in our diets and our life we will maintain good enough levels to keep things running smoothly. On the other side, depriving ourselves from vitamins will result in vitamin deficiencies that can carry diseases and conditions.

Vitamin deficiencies can be pretty serious, because we need them in our lives. There is a type of deficiency for each type of vitamin named, some are more common than others, like for example vitamin D deficiency or vitamin B12 deficiency.

Among the people who are more at risk of developing a problem of this kind are pregnant women and small children/infants, since they are at a stage in life where there is a higher need of a good nutrition.

Malnutrition can be one of the causes of a vitamin deficiency, but it is certainly not the only one. Sometimes the body is unable to process the vitamins from the different sources we provide. This malabsorption can be the result of certain medications or even conditions that interfere with the proper absorption of vitamins. Even smoking can hinder your ability to absorb vitamin D for example; so as you can see preventing a deficiency is a mixture of diet and lifestyle.

Symptoms of a vitamin deficiency vary greatly and we have to keep in mind that they are not exclusive to a deficiency; this means that they can be signs of problems of another nature. For example in the case of vitamin D, deficiencies can appear as the development of rickets in children (bowed legs), osteomalacia in adults and osteoporosis in elder patients. With Vitamin B12 we have symptoms such as a anemia, constipation, confusion, weakness, lethargy and diarrhea.

Treatment for vitamin deficiencies is done through supplementation, but you must take supplements with the guide of your doctor to avoid intoxication. Pregnant women can prevent vitamin deficiency problems by taking special supplements for this stage of life; these products are easily available and provide higher doses of vitamins than the common multi-vitamin supplements.

As you can see, although vitamin deficiencies are not so common these days, there are still risk and dangers from an improper nutrition and lifestyle. If you are a vegan or vegetarian person, remember to eat fortified cereals or take vitamin B12 supplements, as these diets don’t provide enough of this vitamin.